Schwelmer Alt | Privatbrauerei Schwelm

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Reviews by Atlas1:

First off, this is a really cool bottle. Squat, flip top with a neat old German house design on the label. But the thing that really sold me on this beer, before I'd even tried it, was the phrase "The Unique Hoppy Altbier" on the label. Hoppy altbier... music to my ears.

Poured into a belgian snifter, the Schwelmer is a pretty brown color with a slightly off-white head that contains huge bubbles and thins out rather quickly. Held up to the light, it shows off hues of mahogany and brick-orange. A very pretty beer. The nose on this one is all over the place. Sweet malt, roasted coffee, vanilla, plum, faint orange peel, cherries. I could drink this in all day and keep finding new smells in there. The taste is a bit unexpected. Because, presumably, of the strong hop content here, all the sweet malts are rather muted. But it's done in a very distinguished manner. You still taste the mellow malt character of this beer, but you also get a great spicy hop balance. And then it finishes with a dry bitter kick. Mouthfeel is smooth and silky. It seemed a bit watery at first, but it really develops a nice character after it warms up to room temperature.

This is fine and delicate altbier. Do not expect the hop level in this guy to match an American double IPA or anything. Instead, approach this like you would a piece of antique furniture. The more you allow this one to grow on your palate, the more it appreciates in value. Would make a fantastic session beer in some dark, hidden-away German bar. Might go great with dumplings or struedel.

Presentation: 16.9 oz brown swing top bottle with a Best Before End freshness date on the back label.

Appearance: The frothy sea foam like head leaves a thick trail of lace on the glass, deep wood stained brown shows some clarity.

Smell: Toasted malt, vaguely sweet ghost like fruitiness with a hint of hops.

Taste & Mouth Feel: Exceptionally smooth with a moderate carbonation and creamy malty body. A twang of fermented malt with in the toasted grain character, hops are modest yet show a good balance. The finish is a jumbled complex mess; nutty, smoke?, yeasty.

Drinkability & Notes: Quite the enjoyable brew, have not quaffed an Alt like this for some while. Seemed to go great with some Teriyaki Chicken and Crab Rangoon.

stubby,11.2 ounce, Belgian style bottle, "best before end" date is not ledgible on bottle. Pours chocolaty brown, with an of white head that initially was rocky and puffy, then dissolved to a medium thickness film and leaving nicely developed and well scattered lacing. Nose is thinly of malt. the mouthfeel is disappointingly thin and unsatisfying. Notes of chocolate, bananas, caramel, fair Alt, but too lacking in body, malty character and mouthfeel for my liking.

Poured a dark copper with a medium tan head. Lots of caramel and bread in the aroma. Flavor was dense with caramel and malt, with a bitter end. No hops, mostly sour apple. Some fruitiness, with a heavier than expected mouthfeel. Its okay, but not worth doing again.

Appearance is crystal clear, deep chocolate brown with ruby red highlights and a rocky off-white head that lingers for only a moment or two to settle in a thin layer. Aroma has bready malts with notes of milk chocolate and bread dough along with some faint flowery noble hops. The taste is very complex and it took me nearly the whole glass to nail down all the flavors. Up front I'm hit with sweet chocolate and bread dough. Through the middle I taste those flowery noble hops and hazelnut. Then in the finish is a distinct sherry-like note. Medium to medium low mouthfeel makes this highly drinkable and the restrained carbonation compared to most other German lagers I think really helped bring out the robust flavors. I really enjoyed this beer a lot and I'm upset I didn't pick up more bottles. Oh well, I guess I'll have to buy more!

Pours a dark amber with a thick two finger head of creamy craggy bubbles that melts to sticky lacing for a very, very long time.
Aroma is a little toasty, a little coffee, a little nutty.
Taste is toasted dry malts, light nuts, slight hop finish...well balanced.
Aftertaste is drying with a tiny bit of hops.
Mouthfeel is rich and creamy without every getting sticky.
Good Alt...well done.

Appearance- Dark ruby red/ brown with a huge thcik creamy head. Heavy lacing down the glass. A very good looking beer.
Smell- A little tough to get a good bouquet going. A touch of caramel malt and lemon. Slight earthy hops.
Taste- Caramel malt up front followed with a dose of sweet lemons and sunflower seeds.
Mouthfeel- Dry throughout with a sweet finish. Low carbonation.

Clear mahogany color and light tan head. Nice lasting retention but sparse lace. Smell is dry, woody and a little metallic. Nuts, slight chocolate, and sweet raison. Taste is earthy, nutty, dry with leafy hops, and lightly burnt malts. Once again very woody feel to it. Mouthfeel is slick, very slightly gritty, and body may be a bit thin. Although a little metallic, it doesn't affect my drinkability.

Darkish cherrywood with a large-pocked beige lace.
Caramelized cherries and tree bark aroma.
Begins with a steadfast, toasted caramel maltiness that splinters into walnut skin and red grape. Underlying sweet apple notions, which seems to be a common thread in the Schwelmer beers. Gains heft in the midesection with a bready sense that suggests pumpernickel. Clean and briskly lagered later on. Hops have a good deal of bitterness in the steely, herbal pangs.
Roughly medium in body, if slightly less. Moderate carbonation. A drinker, for certain.
This is a good rendition. Although not quite Uerige or Moosejaw good, but along those same lines.

Darkish brown, with mild yeasty and malty aroma. Taste like a subdued barleywine,a bit of a season, and an understated maudite.Nuttiness, herbal, and creamy carmel. Easy drinking. Nothing bold and exciting, but a fine brew. Well carbonated with no significant head.

T - Starts off with a big acidic twang of rye-like snappyness. Then vinous grape tones sweep over the tongue before toffee and caramel come into play with a tiny bit of bitter dark chocolate. This is a very salty and strange tasting beer, but I really like it!

M - Light bodied, smooth, and quite acidic with a very low level of carbonation.

D - Great! Very similar to a brown or nut-brown ale but with some very odd qualities. Smooth and easy-drinking.

Schwelmer's Alt pours an almost black body that reveals it's true deep-ruby stained mahogany color when held to the light. The creamy khaki-colored head drops shortly but leaves some nice lace in its wake.

Sweet malt with a darkly caramelish and roasty edge resides in the nose along with a whisp of floral hops.

The flavor is much as the nose suggests, with a very well-balanced, but straightforward maltiness. There's a touch of dark malt acidity, some welcome nuttiness, and some sublime leafy hop flavors, but nothing else. It fades from the pallet just as easily as it entered, leaving behind a mild trace of nuts, smoke (residue from the roastiness), and floral and grassy hops.

The body is medium with dextrinous malt, and its gentle carbonation leaves it remarkably smooth across the palate.

Interestingly, as Schwelm was once a mining center, this beer is quite similar in many ways to the dark milds of northern England where miners enjoyed a darker, but not necessarily fuller beer at the end of the day. It's not what you'd expect of a Dusseldorfer alt at all, but it's still quite enjoyable.

Pours a pretty garnet color topped by a half-inch of tan head. Aroma of sweet, bready malt with notes of stone fruit (plum, maybe?). Palate is nice, sweet, and a bit fruity. Bready, biscuity caramel malt is complemented by some light fruity hops and a hint of German lager yeast. Medium body and good carbonation carry the flavor well. A nice, flavorful offering, and perhaps the first true German alt I've had.

Pours a clouded reddish-brown with a chunky head that dissipates quickly, leaving little lace. Smells of sweet, strongly toasted malts with an undercurrent of bananas and fruits. Grainy, chewy, and well-carbonated in the mouth. Tastes toasty and grainy initially, but develops a long and juicy banana fruitiness before finishing with a clean and nutty hop dryness.

The alt poured a cola like brown color with a tan head. The head was decent, nothing special, but left very nice lacing. It has a malt sweetness to it, caramel & toasted. The taste is of caramel malts, a bit nutty, a bit dark fruit. A nice fizzy mouthfeel, crisp. A very drinkable brew. I am not very familar with the style but I like it.

T: sweet dark roasted caramel and licorice. There was some spicy ripe fruit (plums, prunes, raisins) and light sugary notes. The hopping was hard to detect with the sweet caramel and spicy ripe fruit but there was some earthiness that was attributed.

M: light, with a thin syrupy viscosity and full of ripe fruit leaving a nice residual coating behind. The carbonation was very soft.

D: Overall a good drinking and hoppy alt with rich ripe fruit makes this and enjoyable experience that was rich and fruity and smooth going down.

Bottle courtesy of Plucier: Poured a clear deep brown color alt with a small foamy head with limited retention. Aroma of light roasted malt with some light toffee. Taste is also dominated by some light roasted toffee notes. Body is really average with some medium carbonation. Im not sure I am totally getting the style since I dont encounter it often enough but I thought this example was generally boring.

Appearance: dark root beer color with a frothy whitish head. Nice durability on the head with etchings of sheet lace left behind. No kidding, it looks like a root beer.
Smell: lots of toasted malt and caramel sugars; not much in the way of hops aromas.
Taste: sweetly malty initially with mild fruitiness. More toasty malt and a touch of earthiness than anything else. Herbal hops bittering rises as each pull is swallowed. Finishes with an off-putting metallic bite at the back of the roof of the mouth.
Feel: medium and prickly with a thinning, almost watery ending.
Drinkability: overall, I found this alt to be a bit of a let-down after my positive experiences with Schwelm's hefeweizen and pils. The metallic taste still hasn't left my mouth and that's a deal-killer for me. I'll pass on this one from now on.

Appearance- Body is a very clear, light-to-medium brown/amber with a thick, creamy tan head that slowly falls s to a lasting thin cover. Some broken rings of lacing stick to the glass.

Smell- The smell is earthy/woody, slightly nutty. A sweet, grainy aroma with just enough bittering hops.

Taste- A so-so blend of malt, malt sweetness and bittering hops. Some graininess in there. Also getting some earth, woody flavors in the background. Somebody else mentioned impressions of a moss-covered wood. I would have to agree. A vaguely harsh hop taste in the very end.